What Comes Next
by The Good Life Creator 678
Summary: What comes next after a fatal blow has been struck? Do we stay behind and watch the world burn or do we try to douse the flames with tears of sorrow?


**What Comes Next**

**Disclaimer**-I do not own Legend of Zelda, Nintendo does

"Open your eyes."

My eyes cracked open in a haze as the voice floated in my mind. It sounded so familiar, an old friend, a lover, soft and sweet and in so much pain but it I couldn't remember the face that owned it. The rain came down in sheets around me, its cool touch soothing my skin as the pain and heat came radiating from my core.

_Link guided Zelda across the bridge, his hand gripped tightly around hers. Their hearts raced, panic flooded through their minds. He took a pensive look back towards her, face filled with defeat. What Goddesses were looking down upon them now? How could they allow something like this?_

_Mechanical whirring filled the air around them, bringing him back from his thoughts. Beasts of black and gold stone crawled around the fields before them, their stars and eye glowing red with hatred as their spider legs dug into wet soil towards the two._

_"Stay behind me!" Link barked as he kept the princess at bay, his eyes narrowing towards the sight before him. His grip tightened on the hilt of the Master Sword as he unsheathed it, holding the edge before him. No matter what happened now, no matter the outcome, he had to keep her safe._

_Even if the cost was his life._

"Just open your eyes!"

The voice flooded back in to me in cries of defiance, sorrow and pain keeping the heat at bay. I could see her crying over a body, flat on his back. Burns scarred his flesh, soot hung in his hair, his eyes listless. Her long locks clumped together in the rain that fell in torrents around them. The earth was scarred, fire danced upon the blades of glass around the mechanical monsters, their shadows mimicking the movements of flames.

What made the girl cry like this?

In a flash the heat came back in waves, washing over my body in crashing force.

_Link staggered as the Gaurdian fell before him, crashing down to his knees, the Master Sword digging into the earth. He couldn't fall here, he wouldn't fall here. Red sparked and crackled in the mechanical being as it struggled to move, limbs shuddering in uselessness._

_"Link!" Zelda cried out, her hand gripping his shoulder as he doubled over in agony. "Run, save yourself! I'll be fine!" Her voice was filled with concern, worry at his state. At the rate he was going, he would die._

_With clumsy movements, Link shrugged off her hand, struggling to get to his feet. His arms stretched out wildly as he regained his footing, eyes locked before him. He could not run, not with her needing him. She had to survive, to save the kingdom._

"Don't leave me like this!"

Her tears flowed freely as she held her soldier close, bring his head to her chest in an act to defy the very goddesses themselves. Was she crying for him to come back because she didn't want to be alone in a world so scarred or was it love?

I cried out in pain as the world became nothing but heat, my vision fading from the world around me.

_The beast glared at the two, a red thread binding it and Link. His eyes were defiant as shaky hands raised his blade. His vision came in about out, lines defining themselves before blurring into figures of no definition. "I'm sorry… Zelda." His voice was quiet as his eyes closed. "I couldn't keep you safe."_

_"No!"_

_Zelda shoved Link back as she raised her hand towards the beast. In a golden flash of light, it was over._

"Please don't die, I need you here!" Zelda cried as she spilt her tears over me but I was already too far gone, my body and my soul were already separated. Tears of my own stained my cheek as I reached out to stroke her back. Yet I couldn't, my hand slipped through her body as she continued to cry over my body.

"You won't be able to touch her in your state, young hero."

The voice shimmered and boomed around me in a chorus of tones. My head whirled in a useless attempt to locate the source. "I'm not entirely a physical being, Hero."

"Then what are you?" I questioned, my head spinning.

"Do you believe in fate?"

"You mean the fate that dictates the shortened lives and the sorrow of a girl who wanted nothing more than to save the world?" My tone was filled with distain. Fate was nothing more than a cruel joke at this point.

"Such a cynical tone for someone so young." The voices tone never altered as it remarked. "Your view limits fate to a concrete when it is fluid. Fate brought you together, tempered her soul, sharpened your blade. Fate brought together people that hated each other."

"Fate brought the world to its knees!" My words were that of anger as I shouted back. "Fate destroyed the bridges we built! Shattered the lives of so many souls that had no play in this! For what?

"Life is a cycle, young hero." The cadence never reacted to my anger, and it made my skin boil. "We live, breathe, make connections. The beauty of it all is that life is fleeting."

"But what about the life I left? About the people that are going to die?! This isn't beauty!"

"What could you do if I gave you a chance?"

My words caught in my throat at the question? What could I do? What could I change?

"If you were given one more chance, given one more opportunity, would you take it?"

Pained screams, burning land, Zelda crying over my body, all of it flooded back into my mind as I focused on the question. "What would you have me do?"

**A/N Short as hell, but it came to mind after being told a challenged by Z-END99. Not exactly what was challenged but it was what came to mind. Hope it appeals.**


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